Brentwood and Bel Air DCFS Lawyer: Private Juvenile Dependency Defense From the Office Down the Hill

Our Los Angeles office sits at Wilshire and Glendon in Westwood, ten minutes from Brentwood Park, Mandeville Canyon, Bel Air Crest, and Holmby Hills. When a DCFS social worker or an LAPD West Los Angeles officer contacts a family on the Westside hills, we are the firm that can be in the room the same day. ALL Trial Lawyers represents Brentwood and Bel Air parents through investigations, safety plans, emergency removals, detention hearings, and contested trials at the Edmund D. Edelman Children’s Court.

Free, confidential, 24 hours a day: (866) 811-4255.

Quick answer

A Brentwood or Bel Air DCFS lawyer represents parents in Los Angeles County juvenile dependency investigations and court proceedings initiated by the Department of Children and Family Services. Brentwood, Bel Air, Holmby Hills, and Beverly Glen referrals are typically assigned to the DCFS West Los Angeles Regional Office, with law enforcement involvement coming from the LAPD West Los Angeles Division. If the department believes a child is at risk, it can detain the child, file a Welfare and Institutions Code section 300 petition, and open a case at the Edmund D. Edelman Children’s Court in Monterey Park, the single dependency court for the entire county. Our firm defends Westside parents from the first social worker contact through every hearing, and closes most referrals before a petition is ever filed.

Why Brentwood and Bel Air cases are different

Dependency law is the same statute in every city in California. What changes is which agencies are involved, which institutions make the call, what else the family is litigating, and what the family has to lose. We build the defense around those specifics.

The West Los Angeles regional office and LAPD West LA

Nearly every Brentwood and Bel Air referral is worked out of the DCFS West Los Angeles office, and a domestic call in these neighborhoods is answered by LAPD’s West Los Angeles Division. Both agencies handle a steady volume of cases from households with attorneys already involved, and both document with that in mind. Knowing how each writes its reports shapes strategy from the first phone call.

Where the calls come from

Brentwood School, Archer, the Westside independent and parochial schools, and the LAUSD sites that serve these neighborhoods: Brentwood Science Magnet, Kenter Canyon, Roscomare Road, Warner Avenue, Community Magnet. The emergency departments at UCLA Ronald Reagan and UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital, both of which have child protection teams, and Providence Saint John’s. Pediatricians and therapists on the Wilshire and San Vicente corridors, including therapists retained during a divorce. Each is a mandated reporter under Penal Code section 11165.7 who was legally required to make the call. A report is not a finding.

High-asset custody litigation

A DCFS referral made during a Brentwood or Bel Air divorce can do in one detention hearing what the family court refused to do in a year: change placement and impose supervised visitation. Once a section 300 petition is filed, the dependency court takes exclusive control of custody and visitation under Welfare and Institutions Code section 304, and its exit orders under section 362.4 become the family court’s orders when the case closes. That is why the referral has to be closed first, and why your dependency attorney and your family law attorney need to be working from the same file on the same day.

Reputations, licenses, and records

Westside hill households disproportionately include physicians and attorneys, entertainment and finance executives, and board members whose names are checked. Dependency files are confidential under Welfare and Institutions Code section 827, and Edelman hearings are closed to the public. The realistic exposures are a substantiated finding, a Child Abuse Central Index listing under Penal Code section 11170, the custody case, and the people who know. Closing the referral as unfounded, keeping the circle small, and confirming in writing that nothing reached CACI is the whole strategy.

Discretion is a legal strategy

Publicity is the enemy of a good dependency outcome. So is over-cooperation. The families who fare worst in these cases are the ones who assume that being articulate and accommodating will make the department go away. This is how we run a Brentwood or Bel Air case instead.

1. Every contact with the department goes through counsel. You remain cooperative. The social worker hears from your attorney within 24 hours, interviews and home access are scheduled rather than improvised, and nothing you say becomes a quote in the referral narrative.
2. The circle is closed. No statements to household staff, school administrators, or the other parent about the allegation. No social media. Everyone who might be interviewed is identified in advance, and your attorney knows what each of them will be asked. Household employees are not mandated reporters, but they are interviewed, and they talk.
3. The evidence is developed before the department’s narrative hardens. Pediatric records, the custody file, a forensic expert’s letter when the allegation is medical, a timeline of the referral against the litigation calendar. Delivered to the assigned worker and supervisor before the 30-day closing decision, in a neutral, professional package.
4. The exit is documented. We pursue an unfounded disposition in writing, confirm nothing was sent to the Child Abuse Central Index, and, where a listing exists, request the grievance hearing under Penal Code section 11169 before it reaches a licensing board or an employer.

What we handle

• Pre-petition investigation defense: home visits, school interviews under Penal Code section 11174.3, safety plans, and the 30-day closing decision.
• Detention hearings: petition within 48 hours of removal, hearing by the end of the next judicial day (sections 313 and 315). We prepare the alternative-to-detention plan and the relative who can take placement under section 361.3 the night before.
• Jurisdiction trials: cross-examining the social worker, excluding hearsay, and retaining the medical and forensic experts who answer section 300 allegations.
• Disposition and case plans: pushing back on excessive services, protecting visitation, and getting children home under family maintenance rather than out under reunification.
• Review, permanency, and section 388 petitions: six-, twelve-, and eighteen-month reviews, contested section 366.26 hearings, and modification petitions when circumstances change.
• CACI grievance hearings: challenging a Child Abuse Central Index listing before it reaches a licensing board or an employer.

Lead attorney: Mohammad “Mo” Abuershaid

Founding partner and lead trial attorney, ALL Trial Lawyers / Abuershaid Law, APC. California State Bar #297270. Mo began his career at the Orange County Public Defender’s Office and has personally handled more than 2,000 juvenile dependency matters across Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties. He is a Super Lawyers and Rising Stars honoree every year from 2020 through 2026, holds an Avvo 10.0 rating, and practices in English, Spanish, and Arabic.

For Brentwood and Bel Air families, that means an attorney who appears regularly at Edelman, knows the West Los Angeles regional office, and has litigated the allegation patterns these cases actually produce: injuries evaluated by UCLA’s child protection team, referrals timed to custody hearings in high-asset divorces, and allegations built on a parent’s mental health treatment or medication.

Our office, ten minutes away

ALL Trial Lawyers / Abuershaid Law, APC 10880 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 1101, Los Angeles, CA 90024 (Wilshire at Glendon, Westwood) Also: 9465 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 300, Beverly Hills, CA 90212, and 8383 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 800, Beverly Hills, CA 90211 Phone: (866) 811-4255, 24/7 emergency line Hours: Weekdays 7:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., weekends 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. In-person consultations by appointment; phone and video any hour. Court: Edmund D. Edelman Children’s Court, 201 Centre Plaza Dr, Monterey Park, CA 91754

Frequently asked questions

Which DCFS office handles Brentwood and Bel Air? Brentwood, Bel Air, Holmby Hills, and Beverly Glen referrals are typically assigned to the DCFS West Los Angeles Regional Office, which also covers Westwood, Pacific Palisades, Santa Monica, Culver City, and Malibu. The assignment is confirmed at first contact and shapes strategy from day one.

Will a DCFS case become public? Dependency proceedings and records are confidential under Welfare and Institutions Code section 827, and Edelman hearings are closed to the public. The realistic exposure is through the custody case, through licensing boards if a finding is substantiated, and through a Child Abuse Central Index listing. Each of those is a defined risk we manage directly.

DCFS was called during my divorce. Can the family court still decide custody? Only until a section 300 petition is filed. After that, the juvenile court has exclusive jurisdiction over custody and visitation under section 304, and its exit orders under section 362.4 become the family court’s orders when the case closes. Closing the referral before a petition exists is the priority.

Do I have to let the social worker into my home or speak to my staff? You do not have to permit entry without a warrant, court order, or emergency, and you should not sit for an interview before speaking with counsel. The department may interview household employees and school personnel without your consent; your attorney should know who they are and what they will be asked.

UCLA’s child protection team evaluated our child and a report was made. What now? A hospital consult is a first opinion under time pressure. Bleeding disorders, metabolic bone disease, birth-related injuries, and dermatologic conditions all mimic inflicted injury at first look. We get the complete record, retain the right sub-specialist, and deliver a written second opinion to the social worker and supervisor before the closing decision.

How quickly can you be at Edelman? If your child has been removed, the same day. The detention hearing is held by the end of the next judicial day after the petition is filed (section 315), and we prepare the alternative-to-detention plan and relative placement the night before.

Tell us what DCFS told you.

Whether a social worker just called, a safety plan is on the table, or your child has been removed, the first conversation is free and confidential. We will tell you in ten minutes whether you need representation.

Call (866) 811-4255. Free. Confidential. 24/7.

Attorney advertising. This page is general legal information about California juvenile dependency law and is not legal advice for any specific situation. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship; that relationship is formed only by a signed written engagement agreement. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Statutes cited are summarized and subject to change. Responsible attorney: Mohammad Abuershaid, Esq. (State Bar #297270), ALL Trial Lawyers / Abuershaid Law, APC, 10880 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 1101, Los Angeles, CA 90024. Phone (866) 811-4255.